Pages

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

The Elvis {Oatmeal}

A few years ago, breakfast wasn't even on my radar screen. I didn't like it, it took too much effort, and I wasn't hungry. Why eat if I'm not hungry?? Um...hello...calories saved for something better! At least that was my philosophy. Then I decided to start training for a 5K, so in January of last year, I made a change. I decided to start eating breakfast to help fuel my system. It took some getting used to. I actually felt sick after eating breakfast, so I would just have a piece of fruit. Eventually, my body began craving breakfast. REAL breakfast. Whole grains, protein, fresh fruit...the real stuff. Now, over a year later, I'm still doing breakfast, and it's helped me eat better throughout the day, and I FEEL better.

One of my staples has been oatmeal. It's cheap, it's easy to make, it's filling, but it's boring. Who wants to eat food that looks boring or ugly? Not me!

I've been playing around my oatmeal to make it more fun. I discovered freeze dried fruit at Trader Joe's (Target also has some under their Archer's Farm label - you can find them next to the nuts and granola mixes). It's great for a little snack, but I decided to add it to my oatmeal and it's just plain awesome. It makes me feel like I'm eating gourmet oatmeal. The other day I was mixing some freeze dried bananas into my oatmeal and it occurred to me that I like peanut butter on my bananas, so why not stir some in? And it was awesome. And then I thought, "Heeeeeey, didn't Elvis like peanut butter, banana, and bacon sandwiches?" And so I added a piece of bacon to my oatmeal.

Boom.

I felt daring for putting bacon in my oatmeal.

Rawr.

I still feel slightly rebellious.

And my tummy is happy.

You think it's weird, but deep down inside you want to try it. Unless you're vegetarian. Then you're repulsed, and I can feel you judging me.

So I will share my Elvis Oatmeal recipe with you (even the vegetarians because they can drop the bacon from the recipe like it's hot!). It's totally non-complicated, easy, breakfast awesomeness.

Microwave a piece of bacon on high for about 35 seconds until it's crispy. That gets crumbled over the oatmeal at the very end but it needs to be cool enough to crumble.

I use the quick cooking oats, because, well, they're quick. If you've got time for the longer cooking ones, go for it.

Measure out 1/3 cup into a large bowl. Nothing's worse than cooking oatmeal and it bubbling up over the bowl and making a ginormous mess in the microwave. Yuck.

Meet my friend Freeze Dried Banana. I could eat these guys straight out the bag. Wait. That sounds weird. Does that sound like I eat my friends? I gave that up a long time ago. Promise.

Measure out a heaping 1/3 cup of freeze dried bananas. You could also use the same amount of the real thing. Pour on 2/3 cup water or milk and microwave for 1:30-1:45 or until it's done. You know your microwave. It may need more or less time.

Now stir in 2 tsps peanut butter. The heat of the oatmeal melts the peanut butter so you get peanut butter swirly goodness. Yum.

Once the peanut butter is swirled in, crumble the bacon on top, and enjoy.

Warning: if you eat this, it may be difficult not to say, "Thank you...thank you very much" to everyone you meet.